Pearson Environmental Science Chapter 12 Soil and Agriculture Flashcards

11910053689	soil	complex plant-supporting system made up of disintegrated rock, remains and wastes of organisms, water, gases, nutrients, and micororganisms	0
11910053690	parent materials	base geological material in a particular location such as volcanic ash or glacial till	1
11910053691	bedrock	continuous mass of solid rock that makes up the Earth's crust, can be one type of the parent material	2
11910053692	factors that influence soil formation	climate, organisms, landforms, parent material, time	3
11910053693	weathering	physical and chemical processes that break down rocks and minerals into smaller particles (physical, chemical)Rain, strong winds, and the exposure to compounds in water and air are examples of ____________________.	4
11910053694	soil horizons	distinct soil layers	5
11910053695	0 horizon	litter layer	6
11910053696	A horizon	topsoil	7
11910053697	E horizon	leaching layer (under the topsoil)	8
11910053698	B horizon	subsoil	9
11910053699	C horizon	weathered parent material	10
11910053700	R horizon	parent material	11
11910053701	soil profile	cross-section of all the soil horizons in a specific soil	12
11910053702	clay	particles less than 0.002 millimeter	13
11910053703	silt	particles between 0.002 - 0.05 millimeter	14
11910053704	sand	mostly particles between 0.5 - 2 millimeter	15
11910053705	loam	soil with a relatively even mixture of the three particle sizes	16
11910053706	soil degradation	deterioration of soil characteristics needed for plant growth or other ecosystem services	17
11910053707	intercropping	planting of different crops in mixed arrangements	18
11910053708	crop rotation	when farmers alternate crops grown in a field (from year to year)	19
11910053709	cover crops	crops planted to reduce erosion after a field has been harvested and before the next season's planting (often nitrogen-fixing crops to also limit nitrogen loss)	20
11910053710	shelterbelts	also called windbreaks, rows of trees or other tall plants planted along the edges of fields to reduce wind (often poplars)	21
11910053711	tilling	turning-over of soil before planting	22
11910053712	terracing	transforms steep slopes into a series of steps enabling farmers to cultivate slopes without loosing a lot of soil to erosion	23
11910053713	contour farming	plowing sideways across a hillside, perpendicular to the hill's slope, following the contours of the land, and the downhill side of each furrow catches soil so not to be eroded	24
11910053714	overgrazing	when too many animals eat too much of the plant cover, preventing regrowth and often causing erosion which can lead to desertification	25
11910053715	desertification	a loss of more than 10% of the soil's productivity due to erosion, soil compaction, forest removal, overgrazing, drought, salt buildup and other factors	26
11910053716	Dust Bowl	region in southern Great Plains (USA) devastated by desertification in 1930s	27
11910053717	irrigation	providing of water other than precipitation to crops	28
11910053718	salinization	buildup of salts in upper soil horizons, usually in dry areas where precipitation is low and evaporation is high	29
11910053719	pesticides	chemical that kill organisms that compete with crops (plants we value) can contaminate ground water	30
11910053720	traditional agriculture	biologically powered agriculture, without motorized machines, sometimes use irrigation and organic fertilizer, but does not require use of fossil fuels	31
11910053721	yield	amount of crop produced in certain area	32
11910053722	industrial agriculture	using of mechanized farming technology, irrigation, and manufactured chemicals to grow crops	33
11910053723	monoculture	large areas planted with only one crop	34
11910053724	green revolution	agricultural scientists from developed nations introduced new technologies, crop varieties and farming practices to the developing world in the mid-late 1900s (means ":covered with green", NOT environmentally friendly)	35
11910053725	biological pest control	battling pests and weeds with organisms that eat or infect them	36
11910053726	integrated pest management (IPM)	complex strategies where different techniques,such as biological controls, some pesticides, and crop rotation are combined to achieve the most effective long-term pest reduction	37
11910053727	pollinators	animals that fertilize flowers (insects, hummingbirds, bats), most vital and least appreciated factors in agriculture, reduced by pesticides	38
11910053728	arable land	land suitable for farming, requiredfor sustainable agriculture	39
11910053729	food security	a guarantee of an adequate and reliable food supply for all people at all times	40
11910053730	malnutrition	shortage of nutrients the body needs	41
11910053731	genetic engineering	process in which scientists directly manipulate the organism's DNA by using recombinant DNA technology	42
11910053732	genetically modified organisms (GM, GMO)	organisms undergone genetic engineering to resist herbicides so crops can grow more efficiently	43
11910053733	biotechnology	use of genetic engineering to introduce new genes into organisms to produce more valuable products (medicines, crops ...)	44
11910053734	benefits of GM	better yields, less pesticide use	45
11910053735	risks of GM	evolving of super-pests, polluting the genomes of wild plants and animals, the escape of GM genes into non-GM crops	46
11910053736	feedlots	concentrated animal feeding operations (factory farms)	47
11910053737	aquaculture	raising of aquatic animals for food in controlled environments	48
11910053738	seed banks	organizations that preserve seeds of diverse plants as a kind of insurance policy against a global crop collapse.	49
11910053739	sustainable agriculture	agriculture that does not deplete soil faster than it is formed, and doesn't reduce the amount of quality of soil, water and genetic diversity essential to long-term crop and livestock production	50
11910053740	organic agriculture	food-growing practices that use no synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides or herbicides, but instead rely on biological approaches such as composting and biological pest control	51
11910053741	Poisons soil and kills pollinators	What is one of the problematic side effects of pesticide use is the fact that what happens	52
11910053742	Integrated pest management	A farmer has an infestation of aphids and greenflies he introduces ladybugs which prey on aphids and uses a limited does a pesticide to deal with the flies. His approach to insect pests is what	53
11910053743	You would expect to find most farmers who use GM crops living in	In a wealthy developed nation	54